News

Shipping speed big consumer focus

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November 22, 2019

Consumers not only want free shipping, they're expecting faster shipping than ever — especially during the holiday season. That's a prime finding from the Convey third annual survey, "Last Mile Delivery Wars: How To Keep Retail Promises and Win With Reliability." In fact, there's been a doubling in the number ofconsumers who cite shipping speed as important this year over last, while delivery delays and theft are top consumer worries, according to a press release.

The report polled 2,500 U.S. consumers on online shopping experience expectations for this holiday and beyond. Key findings include:

• 64.3% cite cost as the most important factor when it comes to shipping. However, speed was cited by 18.7% — nearly twice as many as last year (9.7% in 2018).
• A faster estimated delivery date in the online shopping cart has a big impact on purchase decisions, with 28.6% saying they'd be more likely to buy if the order would arrive within a week, compared with just 7.5% who say the shipping date doesn't impact likelihood to buy.
• 83.7% say delivery is important to overall shopping experience, up from 73.6% in 2018. And for 43.8%, the delivery experience is considered very important.
• 98.3% want a notification in some form if their delivery is late — up more than 10% from last year (87.8% in 2018). Shoppers overwhelmingly prefer to be notified via email (55%) and SMS (32.5%) if their package is late. By contrast, just one in 10 expects to have to visit a tracking page to find out about delays (10.2%).
• Overall, 72.7% are unlikely to purchase from a brand again after a poor delivery experience. With the holiday stakes so high, retailers should pay close attention to this key metric.

"Our annual study is designed to illuminate key shipping trends that retailers can use to improve the overall brand experience," said Kirsten Newbold-Knipp, chief growth officer at Convey, in the release. "We confirmed that consumers want shipping to be both free and fast, and store pickup isn't necessarily a replacement for direct delivery. Consumers also expect transparent communication about deliveries and are actively seeking ways to track and manage shipments. For brands that like to think they aren't competing with Amazon, the data clearly suggests that shoppers think they are."